Pokémon: Shadow Diary Chapter 12 Crypt, a pokémon fanfic

I've decided to post this Chapter first before I rest, Better get it done while I still got the chance. Anyway, when reading this chapter pay close attention or you might get confused.

Chapter 12: Crypt

It's been half an hour since they have left Wacabec town, and now the group is walking under the pleasant evening. So far they have received one bad news after another, which made each of them feel like they must be alert at all times. The peaceful night slowly became uneasy each steps they took. All this time, Amy was staring at Eric, unable to get her questions off her head. Although Eric assured her that she'll have her answers, it was clear that she was very impatient. Amy's urge got the best of her and the two of them ended up walking behind others for a short conversation.

"Eric, I want to ask you something." Amy blurted.

"It's late Amy, wait until tomorrow." Eric already knew what she was talking about, and her constantly bringing up the subject was starting to annoy him.

"Just tell me this at least." Amy wanted nothing more than Eric's direct answers. "How do you know so much about the Pandoras?"

"Didn't professor Mapelar tell you?" Eric said. "I spied on them for many years to come."

"How could you be able to spy on them if you guys weren't even able to infiltrate their main base yet? You also said that they were building something from within, but there's no way for you to have such classified details without having to infiltrate them. It's as if you have had a history with them, a very deep history."

Eric considered her words for a minute, it looked like Amy was becoming smarter than she seemed before.

"Tell me Eric." Amy demanded. "Just who are you?" Amy was sure that Eric was more than he claimed to be. She remembered the night the two Pandora grunts came to take them out while they slept on Effegerie, but Eric managed to thwart their plans. It was as if he was aware of their strategies very well. Her suspicious grew ever since they talked with the gypsy Chloe back on Wacabec, where she mentioned much more questionable details within Eric's tentative background. One thing was certain, the only way for her to know for sure was to hear it from the man himself. But was he willing to share such piece of information?

"You are correct Amy." Eric finally said. "I am more than what I said I was, a lot more. I've had grave experience involving myself with the Pandoras and their abominable experiments. Yes, and the reason I am extremely experienced with battles and having great knowledge all holds the same cause. As for the rest of the truths about me, well you are going to have to find out yourself because once I tell you you won't be able to think straight as you have before. Trust me on this, you are better off not knowing, at least for now, so I suggest that you don't press on this topic any further. I hope that we'd still get along after this." Then Eric headed off, leaving Amy speechless.

Later the two of them caught up with the others and they all were now walking through the eerie mist within the area. The path appeared depressing like they were walking on the field where a battle once took. Although the fogs were thick, they could see that they were passing through a cemetery.

"Ugh." Amy felt sick from realizing where they were. "Why is it that it's always nighttime when people are walking through place like this?"

"This must be the graveyard for pokemons." Rebecca said while looked around. "I've heard that such place is east of Wacabec. If that's true, then the Wacabec Crypt should also be nearby."

"There is a Crypt around here?" Amy startled. "Um, can we go around this place?"

"Not possible." Rebecca said. "The crypt was built at the only path between Wacabec and Kasantra. There's no way around it so the only way to get to Kasantra is to go through it."

"Ugh, I hate places like this." Amy admitted.

"Cheer up Amy." Ingrid said. "This place isn't all that bad. The only thing you should be worried about is the constant encounter with annoying wild ghost-type pokemons."

"I thought you adored ghost pokemons." Eric said.

"Only if I can get along with them." Ingrid said. "But when they come to you like some bunch of trick or treaters, you tend to get irritated. Other than the fact they are ghost, I simply find them annoying and just simply a pest."

"Is that so." Eric said and then paused.

"But there was one time when I was afraid of them very much, back when I was 'ordinary'." Ingrid said with a sad tone. "I wonder what made me grow attached to them so much now." She then walked ahead, acting all gloomy.

"Well now." Eric began. "So there was a time when she behaved normally. Who'd have thought."

"Eric." Amy glared at him for offending Ingrid. "Still, I do wonder what she was like when she didn't wear depressing outfits and wore creepy make-ups. She might have looked a lot prettier."

"Well no matter." Rebecca said. "It's not our place to judge one's character based on her outer appearance. It's best to simply let them be. Well then, shall we go?" She then led the others towards the creepy building which they were now heading into.

The building became visible as they approached, and once they reached the entrance, they were now able to see the place entirely.

"Be on your guards." Eric advised. "We don't know what we'll encounter as we go in."

Eric then opened the crypt door and led them all inside. As they entered, the place was dark and once they closed the door, it became pitch black.

"Here I got this." Ingrid summoned her magic flame on her palm and have lighten their visions for them to see. When they got to see their surroundings, they saw that the area was made from stones and was filled with tarnished bookshelves carrying old books on each of them.

"Is this the place?" Amy said. "Doesn't really look like a crypt, looks more like a library."

"Originally, this place was a Catholic school." Rebecca said. "But after a blazing fire burned this place, along with the lost lives lost that day, they rebuilt this place into a crypt for the memorial for the people that died in the fire. That was long time ago, now the crypt's for the dead pokemons."

"Oh my god." Amy felt depressed about hearing such tragedy.

"When this place was a school, there was a bell at the bell toll above the school roof." Rebecca pointed upward. "When they made it into a crypt though, the bell's purpose has changed: 'Those who shall give regards to their lost ones should sound the bell and cleanse their souls'. They removed the bell off its original holding place, but I'm sure that it's still around this place somewhere."

"Let's not bother searching for it." Ingrid suddenly said. "It's best to leave the deads be. What good would it do once we communicate with them? They won't come back." Her hands gripped tight, as if she was in rage.

"Ingrid." Heather approached her, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Ingrid remained staring away from them and began shaking. After a while, she replied. "It's nothing. C'mon, let's find the way through this place." She then walked ahead of them once again.

"What's her problem?" Amy questioned. "She seems to be behaving rather differently."

"C'mon, we should catch up to her." Eric said. "She's the only one that could allow us to walk in the dark." And then they all went after her.

As they left the room, a short pokemon was watching them while sketching a picture. The pokemon put its sketches away, got off the bookshelf it was sitting on, and then ran after them.

11 years ago

Young Greta was watching her parents leave on their car from the window of their living room. As she waved good-bye at them, she got off the couch and went towards the grand piano sitting by the staircase. Greta was finally at peace, now that there was no one who could order her about. She played several songs on the piano and enjoyed the afternoon.

After finishing her piano practice, Greta soon grew bored. She then wondered, "What's the point of having peace when you have no one to share it with?" Greta then realized that she was starving.

She got off her piano seat and went into the kitchen. When she got there, she began to realize that her mother was the one who provided her food whenever she was hungry. Now that her mom wasn't around to provide for her, Greta was feeling troublingly helpless since she had no idea how to make her own meal. As she wondered what to do, she caught her attention to the cookie jar on the top of the refrigerator.

"Aha! I can have that for now." Greta grabbed a stool and tried to reach for the cookie jar, but she was unable to reach it due to her short height. "*groan*, I wish I was taller."

Greta then went to get something taller for her stand on to get to the cookie jar. Greta managed to get a ladder from her father's library and tried using it to get the cookie jar. The ladder was thankfully high enough and she managed to finally get what she wanted.

"I got you!" Greta was delighted for her achievement, and gave herself a reward by taking a cookie from the cookie jar. Before she could get down however, she looked beneath her and realized that going down wasn't easy as going up. She remained staring below, frightened of how high she was now. "He...help...Help!" Greta cried for help, she yelled as loud as she could. "Mommy! Daddy!" But no matter how hard she called for help, no one came to save her. She was so frightened that she began shaking, the shake became so vibrant that the ladder began to lose balance and made her fall.

"AHH!" Greta fell towards the kitchen floor, when she landed, she began closing her eyes so that she won't be able to witness her agony.

Surprisingly though, she felt no pain. Instead, she felt her crash for some reason, soft. As Greta opened her eyes, she saw that she was still in the kitchen, but wasn't on the floor. When Greta finally saw what was going on, she saw that something have softened her landing. It was pink, and bouncy. Greta got off the thing to take a good look at her sudden savior. It then started standing up on its own. Greta realized that it wasn't a thing at all, but a pokemon that stood tall for her. The pokemon was large, pink, had swirly tail, had wings, and a pair of pointy ears.

It then cried, "Clefable!"

Greta went and touched the pokemon. "Did you went to save me? Did you heard my call for help?"

"Clefable!" The Clefable replied happily.

"Thanks." Greta hugged the creature. "Hey, want to be my best friend?" she asked the pokemon.

"Fable, Fable!" Clefable replied with great joy.

Ever since then, Greta and Clefable became best friends.

Present Time

The group were now walking in a stony hallway, filled with roaming Ghastlys, Duskulls, Solosis, and Zubats. They all looked around, feeling that they were inside a labyrinth, and unable to find the exit before the end of the day.

"I was certain that we could get out of here sooner than I have hoped." Amy said, depressed. "Why is it hard to go through a building which was once a simple school?"

"Amy you should know that architects designed Catholic school like a castle back in the 1800s." Eric said. "It's no surprise that this place appears like a dungeon."

"What's all these writings on the walls?" Heather said gesturing at the walls with writings with strange characters on them. "Are they written in another language?"

Eric went and inspected the walls with the writings. "No, these are written in English. These characters are just hard to transcribe, it's all."

"They are in English?" Amy took a look at them herself. "They don't look English to me. Each letters looks like they have some kind of bulge on them."

Rebecca then also took a quick look at them. As she adjusted her glasses looking at them, she began to understand what they were. "Those aren't bulges, they are eyes! Oh, I know what they are!"

"What?" Amy said. "What do you mean?"

"Folks." Rebecca faced her teammates. "What you are looking at are chiseled stone pictures of one of the most mysterious pokemons ever lived in our world: The Unowns!"

"Unowns?" Amy stared at the pictures of each letters with awe. "You mean that these are actually pokemons?"

"Yes." Eric said. "As you see, the Unowns takes the shape of all 26 letters of the English alphabet. But there are 28 different forms of Unowns in total. 26 that are shaped in letters between A through Z, and two that looks like exclamation mark and question mark. The ancients have used the Unowns to send a message, during the time when pens and papers weren't established yet. Before the age has moved on towards the modern era, the Unowns have found themselves less useful and banished themselves from existence. Even though it is believed that they are gone for good, there are rumors that they were still roaming around across the world. Perhaps this is one of their hiding places."

"Are they powerful?" Amy wondered.

"Strangely, no." Eric said. "Despite how mysterious they looked, their greatest flaws are that they are unable to battle. They only have access to one defense mechanism, Hidden Power, which is a very unpredictable attack with randomized types and level of firepower. Still, there are people who researched their backgrounds, so that they can learn of their originality. Perhaps they wielded the key to the beginnings of the pokemons, or every other lives for that matter, both pokemons and humans. Despite their efforts, no one was able to figure out the greatest mysteries that the Unowns carried. Their mystery became unknown till this day, that is why they called them 'Unown'. The only thing that they did find out, was that they were the keys to one of the greatest secret that no man has ever uncovered. Scholars all over the world would do anything to learn of it."

"Why would such pokemons be referred in a place like this?" Amy wondered.

"Churches have always admired the characters the Unowns have taken forms of." Rebecca answered. "Sometimes, their shapes are still used to write glyph to the memorials tablets and even on tombstones. There are even a board games using tiles with the Unowns on them, their mysteries were quite a hit back then. Boy do I wish I was born in that era."

"Anyway, what do they say?" Amy asked as she took a look at the stone drawings.

"Huh, good question." Rebecca took a look at it herself. "Let's take a look at them. It says-"

LV CHIMES OF THE BELL SHALL CLEAR THE PATH TOWARDS NEW BEGINNING

"Chimes of the bell?" Amy started thinking. "What does it mean?"

"I guess this riddle is referring to the bell that used to hand on this building's bell toll." Rebecca inspected the writings several more times. "As for what it says afterwards; 'Clear the path towards the new beginning' might means that once we ring the bell, something will happen. Hang on, I've got to take a picture of this." Rebecca took out her miniature camera and took the picture of the glyph written before her. She then used her ipager to instantly have the photos developed through her printer installed on her device.

"Can we please get moving now?" Ingrid suddenly said. "All this mystery talk is making my head hurt."

"Ingrid." Eric faced her and said. "You've been awfully quiet for some times now. If something's irritating you then feel free to share it with us."

"Don't be absurd." Ingrid replied. "I'm not feeling irritated, I'm just anxious to get going now."

"So what now guys?" Amy said. "Do we try finding this bell or just find the way out of here?"

"Do you really want to stick around for some pointless scavenger hunt?" Ingrid scornfully said. "I thought that we were running out of time! Pandoras could get to us any minute!"

"We are all aware of that Ingrid." Rebecca responded. "But I'd risk myself just to find out what this riddle has in store for us. It's should worth our time just to investigate right?"

"Besides," Eric said this time. "Pandoras wouldn't dare deploy their search parties when it's dark out. It would raise suspicions throughout the media. I also believe that it would be alright to spend some times here for a while. Also, there's no reason to rush ourselves, after all the stuffs we've had to face today I think we deserved to have chance to preserve our remaining energy before continuing. We'll should use this opportunity to take things slow while we can."

"Well said Eric." Rebecca put her gears away. "I want to learn a bit about this place as well."

"Hmph! Fine." Ingrid answered, still feeling anxious. "Don't say I didn't warn you when the Pandora grunts suddenly comes to take us as prisoners."

"We should stick close while we look around here." Eric advised. "This place is still a dangerous territory, especially when it's dark out."

"Alright then!" Amy said with determination as she went ahead of everyone. "Let's go find that bell!"

The group ventured farther inside the crypt to finds some more answers for the secrets within the message they've uncovered. They also hoped to find the exit along the way. As they left the room and moved to the next, the same pokemon that began stalking them continued to follow them on their tracks.

11 years ago

Greta was a young girl raised by a wealthy family, living under the roof that belonged to a famous merchant married to a singer; who also had four more daughters each with different occupations. A five-year-old girl wearing white silky dress, wearing a pink ribbon at the back of her flowing blonde hair and wore a pair of red shoes with white stockings. The girl also had an appearance of an average girl, who also looks like a playhouse doll. Greta had to spend her time without her parents around due to each of them having jobs that involved frequent world travels. However, her parents wanted nothing more than their daughter's safety, so they have left her with the care of her own personal bodyguard, the Clefable.

Often times, when Greta ended up in dire situation, she would call her Clefable friend to come and save her. As her best friend, the Clefable always came to her aid whenever she called for it. The two soon began to bond with each other and they began sharing their interests for one another. When Greta went to bed, she'd share stories with the Clefable. The two exchanged meals, played piano together, and even played outside together. Greta couldn't be any happier, she could care less about hanging out with other kids; all she ever needed could have been provided by her Clefable. They were best friends to the end.

That year, at springs, there was news about the unfortunate incident involving her father. Her mom received a telegram that the ship that her dad was on, the SS. Libra, was attacked by a rogue pokemon that soared in the air. They have found the wreckage at the desert of Orre region, however the ship's passengers that were on board were missing, possible lying dead away from the ship. Ever since hearing her father's demise, her mom's behavior began to turn for worst. Greta was also feeling sad, unable to find herself to feel joy anymore. The only time when she was at peace was when her Clefable came to cheer her up.

One day, her mom wanted to enlist Greta to a boarding school, which she didn't like the sound of. Her mom thinks it was for the sake of Greta's future, but Greta argued that she didn't know what was best for her. Afterwards, her mom became cold to her, and she prohibited Greta from ever having fun; even keeping her from spending time with her Clefable. Greta let her punishment torment her for several days, but after the fifth day Greta began to lose her mind. One day, her Clefable managed to sneak into her bedroom where the two managed to have fun in secret. Eventually, Greta came to a conclusion that the only way to truly go back the way things were was for the two of them to run far away from home. Clefable was reluctant at first but it soon agreed with her, and the two started preparing in secret.

When they finished their preparation, Greta sneaked out of her home with Clefable's help. And then the two left the estate, leaving no clues behind so that her mom wouldn't be able to find her wherever she would go even with she hired authorities. When they reached the outskirt of her hometown, she took a final look at it, and then the two of them started walking, without looking back.

Present Time

The trainers continued through corridors and corridors, as they fought several wild pokemons that harrassed them. They have spend hours searching for both the building's bell and the way out, surprisingly so far they haven't managed to find either one. Whenever they tried entering new areas, they always ended up going into places they've already been. They have gone through a saloon room twice and an art galore thrice. Eventually they came up with a conclusion that they were lost.

"I can't believe it!" Amy stomped in rage. "We went through unfamiliar doors, but whenever we go through them we ended up in areas we have already been in! I mean I swear that we've passed that same Persian bust like about five times! Are we like lost or something?"

"It is strange." Eric surmised. "It's as if the dimension within this building is shifting wherever we go. As we enter one wing, we end up in the farther side of the structure. I clearly memorized which room takes us where, but sometimes it's like we've somehow reenter the place we've already visited. This place defies logic in every turn."

"What's going on really?" Amy said. "If we are indeed lost, then how can we ever get out of here?"

"I don't know." Rebecca adjusted her glasses. "But for some reason, I think this phenomenon has got something to do with the glyph we ran into a while ago. remember? That passage that was written in "Unown" Characters."

Rebecca showed them the photograph she took with the glyph earlier. They read what was written back there.

LV CHIMES OF THE BELL SHALL CLEAR THE PATH TOWARDS NEW BEGINNING

"What do you think it means?" Amy asked.

"I may only be speculating," Eric started. "but I think that this passage is telling us that in order to get out of here, we must ring the bell that's inside this building somewhere. The "New beginning" it refers to the way out. If so, then our hopes of leaving lies on us ringing that bell."

"You may be onto something there Eric." Rebecca said. "Yeah, I also think that this is a riddle that could help us get out of here. That means we must now focus on finding that bell."

"How though?" Amy said. "No matter where we go, we end up in random rooms. So far, we haven't found any room that has a bell or anything."

"Perhaps we missed something." Eric thought hard. "Like a hidden clue telling us where to go. Perhaps we got lost simply because we've been entering doors at random. I think we were supposed to go to rooms in specific order."

"Maybe the missing clues could tell us all about it." Rebecca said.

"Well then." Eric began. "Shall we start searching?"

"How can we even start when we don't even know what we are even looking for?" Heather asked.

"We have to try searching anywhere for anything." Eric said. "Time presses us gravely."

The group went into rooms and began investigating each area. Eventually Eric began noticing the designs on each stone doors looked peculiar. Each were either forged with marble, granite, platinum, bronze, jade, gold, silver, mithrils, copper, and even stainless steel. On each doors were also marked with odd words which were written in a different language.

"I believe the doors are the clue to this mystery." Eric said as he gazed at the stone doors. "See how they are each designed with specific types of rocks and metals. The markings can't be coincidence either."

"Wonder why we didn't notice those sooner?" Rebecca wondered.

"Because this place is hard to see within the darkness." Ingrid said quietly. "I'm going to light up my fires a bit more." Ingrid started making the fire on her palm bigger with the support of her other hand. Once she did, the rooms became clearly visible for them to see.

"Glad that's taken care of." Amy approached one of the stone doors surrounding the room and gazed at it. "Now how are we to find that bell using these doors?"

"First thing we should do," Eric started thinking. "is to figure out which door we should enter first. There has to be a reason they were each made differently, along with having different writings on them."

"Okay then." Amy started looking at the words on the doors. "Um, anyone know what language this is?"

"I'm uncertain." Rebecca said. "They resemble old Chinese letters or Japanese kanji writings, yet they don't exactly look like them. I'll try to look them up on my ipager."

"They are korean." The group faced the person who answered, who turned out to be Ingrid. She approached the stone door and looked at it.

"How do you know?" Rebecca asked her, astonished.

"My mom was a cultural singer." Ingrid's eyes continued to gaze the letters. "She once sang the Korean themes during her time as a diva. I was taught to read and write the language in order to help her write lyrics for the songs she had to write before she went out on stage. I've even read their folk tales in these language as a practice to learn to read them better."

"Can you read what it says then?" Amy asked.

"Let's see." She focused on the letters. "It reads Te Yang."

"What does that mean?" Rebecca asked.

"It means Sun in Korean." Ingrid said. "Looks like the words written here are just random vocabularies. Meaningless unless we fully understand the grasp of their meanings."

"Then we are going to have to interpret the rest of the writings on each doors." Eric suggested.

The trainers went towards another door and had Ingrid read what was written in each one of them. After reading from the remaining two doors, Ingrid began translating.

"The next doors reads: Ba Raam, and Jungi. Respectively they each translates to: Wind, and Electricity. I wonder what these implies though."

"I think I know." Eric began. "I think we are to differentiate between these three things. In order to do that, we must examine what they all have in common. Now, what do these following things: Sun, Wind, and Thunder; have in common?"

The group stared at the doors, thinking hard. They all began wondering until Rebecca broke the silence.

"The three of them are used for power source! Man found ways to preserve energies and powers using these elements."

"Wasn't this crypt built like 200 years ago?" Amy said. "Were such power sources established back then?"

"The idea was developed by Chinese philosophers between 1650s and 1700s." Rebecca pointed. "They just couldn't manufacture the technologies to extract the energies from those sources until the late 1900s. I think it's easy to assume that these terms refer to 'power'. The question is though is what makes each of them different."

"Perhaps we should evaluate their strength and weaknesses in order to come up with the conclusion." Said Eric. "We should hurry though, we can't stay here for so long."

"Okay let's start with the Sun." Said Rebecca. "Solar power can produce 0.1 gigawatt within hours, and can sustain 0.15 more upon daylight savings. They can pretty much power up an entire facility within a week."

"3 days and 12 hours actually." Eric said. "You forget that solar powers are meaningless during the night. If the sun was up for a whole day, then it could produce enough power to get the lights running for a whole week, but since it can't; we must deduce the amount possible by half."

"Eric, I'm so glad that you are smart." Rebecca said, unable to believe that she has missed the crucial detail. "I guess we found both the Sun's strength and weakness. What about the Wind?"

"An effective power source." Ingrid said. "The wind power generating fan can generate enough powers to power up stadiums within 60 miles. I guess the only drawback to it would be its lack of usefulness without the winds."

"That and there's another reason." Eric said. "Wind powers are frequently at best, unpredictable. No one can determine the strengths of the wind current that could be used for the wind generators. If the wind isn't strong enough the powers received would be less, if it's too strong then the generators could override and combusts by overheating. In other words, the wind power is uncontrollable and risky."

The groups stayed silent and then faced the last door.

"Then we are down to the final source, the Electricity." Rebecca said. "All I know is that this is the most frequently used power source and many still prefers to use it. It's basically limitless. That's it strength. The only drawback would be how hard it is to procure."

"I think the door we need to enter," Ingrid said. "is the one that is the most effective than the others. If so then could Electricity be the answer?"

"Only one way to find out." Amy reached out for the door.

"Wait a minute!" Rebecca said. "We don't know for sure if the doors applied for what we must take resolves upon a simple trivia, it could have been anything. Even if we did get it right, how can we be sure that we were right about the pattern? All the rooms looks almost identical, so what can we see to figure out that we are entering the right path?"

"You made a good point." Eric thought hard for a while, and then an idea striked him. "Do any of you have some kind of disposable materials like strings or small objects that are in a group?"

"I have batteries that I used all up." Rebecca digged in her bags and took out some worn out batteries. "What do you need it for?"

"We'll use these," Eric took the batteries from Rebecca. "and leave them as trails, so that we can know for sure that when we enter certain rooms that look familiar, we can see the battery we left behind to know for sure that it's the room that we've already been in."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Amy was delighted.

"It really is." Ingrid said. "So shall we enter the Electricity door?"

The trainers have entered through the door after leaving a battery behind and made it to another room. The next room looked more broader and had three more doors before them. They were all made differently and had more writings in them; like the ones in the previous room.

"Okay Ingrid," Rebecca said. "can you read the words for us please?"

"Just a minute." Ingrid went and inspected the three doors before her. After reading them all, she went and translated for her comrades.

"From left to right reads: Ghup, Byung, and Shi gan; translating to Fear, Illness, and Time. I can't figure out what-"

"It's Time." Eric suddenly said.

"That was fast," Amy said. "how did you know?"

"I know this trick." Eric answered. "You have to find the question by looking into the answers. The question before us is pretty clear; what is mankind's greatest weakness? The answer is Time."

"Are you certain?" Rebecca was certain that he was, she only wanted to make sure.

"Positive." Eric replied. "The other two terms indeed does lead to the man's doom, but they can be avoided. Time on the other hand, is what man cannot avoid from. They will gradually age, become old, and then die when their bodies reaches their deadline of their functioning. It's clear that the Time is the key here."

"Then leave one of the batteries behind and let's go through that door."

The group have passed through door by doors and managed to solve the riddled passage carefully and thoroughly. After a while they have managed to get through the maze farther than they could before, even though they sometimes got them wrong and ended up back to where they started. The batteries they left behind in each room made this trial easier to pass through. After successfully going through 7 new rooms, they ended up in a big round room; this time the doors were all golden and there were 10 of them this time.

"Whoa." Amy said in amazement of how complex this was becoming. "Okay Ingrid, I hope you can read them all and memorize them."

"I'll do my best." Ingrid went towards each stone doors and began reading the texts on all of them. After reading them all, she came back to the group and recited them what she have read. "Okay, this might be hard to catch up so listen up. From the doors left from right reads: Khot, Geum, Sa Rang, Bul, Gong Gi, Mu Gi, Eum Sik, Eum Ak, Gi Do, and Gyo Yuk; which Translates to: Flower, Gold, Love, Fire, Air, Weapon, Food, Song, Prayers, and Education. Other than what they means, I can't help you from there."

"Okay we've gone this far," Rebecca stated. "So let's try to see what we are trying to figure out here. First, what do all these have in common?"

"They all represent value." Eric said. "The question here might be; out of all those things, what is the most valuable one among them? We must prioritize them by comparing them all."

"That is really a tricky business." Rebecca admitted. "Out of the ten, which is more important?"

"Okay let's try and narrow it down a bit by comparing them." Amy said. "What makes each of them valuable for every humans in the world? And what makes the rest of them less valuable?"

"Firstly Flower." Eric began. "Flowers are passions, man uses them to try and attract the attention of the opposite sex. To human eyes, they look lovely and it often pleases one another. However despite their values, flowers aren't exactly the necessity in order for man to strive; nor do they need any female companion to share their lives with. I can assume that Flower isn't the answer here. Here's another tough one, Gold, golds are mankind's greatest desire because they leads them to brighter future; prosper; fame; and can let them get whatever they desires. I'm not sure if it the answer, but I'm sure that it's a better one than Flower. Love is pretty much self-explanatory from hearing my explanation for Flower. It can lead to happy life, but whether the life is happy or sad man can still strive in it. Fire is also a tough one, mankind wouldn't be able to survive to the modern age if it weren't for fires. Fire helped early humans by keeping them warm, eat cooked foods, and even see in the dark. Fire was the man's greatest gift, but it is also destructive. Fire can incinerate all lives and it is a primary element that is the representation of Hell, the purgatory for the sinned."

"I guess Fire isn't all that valuable anymore, even though we are all here because of it." Amy quietly said.

"Air is what people do need to live in our world." Eric continued. "People need it all the time, so that's also the likely answer. Problem is, so is Food. No man can survive with starvation. Weapons are what man needed to fight to protect their homes and loved ones during many wars in the past, yet they do tend to lead to man's destruction when used by their enemies. Song is more like man's tool, like for singing lullaby and gaining fame. Society demands Song sometimes, but like Flower it isn't really that important in life. Prayers is man's hope, praying for sake of their faith may help them cleanse their spirits. Being the man of Logic, I don't really find Prayers any worth of Value, they are more like delusional testimony to heighten man's belief in religions. Lastly Education, one thing that grants man into what has to be one of their greatest gifts of all, intelligence. Knowledge is the true key for survival, man kind must learn to adapt to life. Learning how to fight to defend, and learning to be useful in life. The greatest thing that happened to man during their evolution was when they've received intelligence. Although Education has its personal merits, I also believe that it's no different than Flower and Song."

Rebecca paused for a while and tried to piece together the facts Eric managed to gather with the written terms. "According to what Eric hypothesized, the correct path could be Gold, Air, and Food. Which one of these three do you guys think is more valuable?"

"Man desires Gold and Food," Eric administered. "but if you think about it, anyone can still manage to survive without them, even for a little while."

"So you're saying that the answer is Air?" Amy said. "Just like that?"

"Let's think carefully before acting now." Rebecca advised. "The question here might be referring to us getting the polar opposite of the equations too."

"If so then the odds of getting the answer correct is close to 2 out of 10." Eric said. "These tricks were meant for us to narrow them down."

"Well you seem certain." Amy said. "Okay then, the Air door it is. I'll-" Amy approached the door to open it when Ingrid stopped her.

"I'll open it. I am feeling uncertain about the door myself. If it's the wrong one then we might end up being worst than lost. Better to have someone who's more experienced with the extraordinarys."

Ingrid grabbed the stone door handle and took a deep breath. 'I won't let anyone else be put to risk. Never again.'

After a brief pause, she finally opened the door, with her eyes closed.

11 years ago

Greta and her Clefable were miles away from her home now. The two had concerns on where to go but it mattered so little to Greta; nothing mattered to her when she could be with her friend without having anyone there to take it away from her. The two ran out towards the outskirts of her home town which was where the area being renovated for building more towns in order to extend it for larger settlement. Even though it's only been several hours before they departed, there were already folks hired to find her. After learning this, she took her Clefable towards a dilapidated building not far from there. The two went to hide, and to their relief, no one managed to find them the whole night. Thus, they found a place to sleep for a while. Greta felt great solitude as she slept with her friend after being separated from it for a long time. Little did she know that the moment would not last very long.

When morning arose, Greta's Clefable went to see if the coast was clear. It then went to wake Greta up to ensure that they were safe to travel. Greta was hesitant however, because she was afraid that the moment they went out that the peace that she was holding onto now would be lost again. Clefable did not argue, so it decided to stay with her for a little while.

But they stayed there for a moment too long. The building that they were on was starting to fall apart. It appeared that the building that the two were hiding in was scheduled to be demolished by the construction crew that day. Greta was feeling distraught from the loud noise from the construction and was stricken with paralysis from the shock. Clefable did not want her friend to get hurt, so it picked Greta up and tried to get her out of the building as soon as possible. Clefable was able to take Greta with all haste, but the building was too big and due to the falling debris it was getting hard to actually escape from it. Clefable did not give up though, so it attempted to flee from the falling building with all efforts of speed. As the exit was within its sight, a hope was clear. But the path was too far for it to reach in time. Clefable could have reached it in time, but unfortunately carrying Greta made it much more sluggish. But the Clefable wanted nothing more than Greta's safety, so it went towards the opening as fast as it could. The Clefable knew however that even with all its speed, the two of them wouldn't make it in time, so it thought of one logical solution to save Greta. The Clefable went and threw the distraught Greta out to the opening, before the entire building could collapse on them. Greta managed to get out of the building in time, and she was lucky enough to be free from any injuries.

But what about her Clefable?

Worried, Greta went towards where the building has fallen and tried to remove the fallen debris until she could locate her friend.

"Please Clefable, please be-" Greta was desperately removing each pieces of the demolished building, not caring the lack of strengths she had for lifting the larger chunks.

After awhile, Greta finally found her friend, who was in critical condition. Greta got the Clefable out to help it breath better, but she couldn't do anything about the blood that was coming out of its open wound.

"Clefable? Clefable please wake up!" Greta begged her friend to wake up, but no matter how much she shook it, the pokemon wouldn't respond. "Please Clefable, Wake Up!"

The Clefable must have heard her that time, because it managed to regain consciousness. The pokemon looked at her friend, feeling glad that it managed to save her once again.

"Cle...Clefa..." The pokemon spoke slowly.

"Don't worry Clefable." Greta said. "I'm going to find help, just try to stay alive for me-"

The Clefable did not allow her to leave its side, it grabbed her hand and looked at her. It knew that no matter what, it was going to perish. The Clefable wanted to see Greta for the last time before it could pass on.

"No, please..." Greta said. "...please, you can't leave me...we promised remember? We were to be friends forever...you can't just leave me!"

Greta was now letting her tears flow from her eyes, unable to grasp the fact of her friend's demise. The Clefable did not wanted to see her cry, so it went and wiped her tears away.

"Cle...fa...ba..." The Clefable could only say much from its condition.

"Clefable..." Greta could not stop crying, as she was about to watch her friend die right by her. "...you were special to me...please..."

The Clefable found itself crying as well, while looking at Greta, regretting that it won't be able to watch her grow up. Despite its lament though, it was happy to have given her the greatest thing that any kids can have: a future. It then touched Greta's face, indicating that it was happy for her.

"Cle...fa...fable..." The pokemon released its last breath and fell into an eternal slumber. As its strength got lost, its arm started to fall from Greta's face. It then slowly hit the ground. At that moment, the pokemon lost consciousness and died.

The pokemon's body remained still for a long while, next to the distraught child who was kneeling right by it.

"Clefable..." Greta quietly said. "Clefable...CLAFABLE!"

Greta screamed its name for a long time, she leaned at her friend's corpse and cried. She cried at her loss of a valuable friend. Rained dripped at the moment of the sudden tragedy, but Greta did not care, all she wanted to do was mourn. Ever since that day, Greta never felt the same as she was.

Present Time

The trainers were not sure what happened. Were they lost again or did they ended up in someplace new? Ingrid finally opened her eyes to see whether the door got them safely to the next room. But what she saw before them now was quite unexpected. It was a wide room surrounded by stained-glass windows, and the only thing that was in the room was right at the center.

"Is that...a staircase?" Amy felt dumbstruck as she was staring at the long spiraled staircase.

"I wonder where it would take us." Rebecca was also feeling puzzled while looking at it.

Eric then came up with the realization. "It's the stair to the bell toll."

"Of course!" Rebecca was more alert by Eric's claim. "They took out the bell during when they were rebuilding this structure to make it into a crypt. When they finished, they placed the bell back at the bell tower! The bell must be up there!"

"So if we ring it," Amy said. "then will we be able to leave?"

"That's what the riddle is telling us." Rebecca took out the photo of the stone inscriptions written with the Unown styled characters. "It reads; LV CHIMES OF THE BELL SHALL CLEAR THE PATH TOWARDS NEW BEGINNING, 'New Beginning' refers to the way out of here!"

"Then lets get up there and ring that bell!" Amy was about to step towards the stair case.

"Wait a minute." Ingrid suddenly said.

"What's wrong?" Amy turned to her. "Let's go ring that bell so that we can finally get out of here."

"Something's amiss." Ingrid said with a chilling tone. "I can sense a presence of a force that doesn't seem to feel kindly of us being here."

"What do you mean?" Amy looked around. "I don't see anything."

Eric took a look around himself. He was hoping that it was nothing, but when he inspected the area a little closely, he knew that Ingrid was right. He saw a shadowy silhouette was traveling underneath, heading right for them.

"Guys, incoming!" Eric alerted them, and the group scattered around the room to avoid a sudden tackle from the shadow.

"What the..." Amy was watching the shadow was moving again, and that it was turning around to attack once more.

Rebecca took action by throwing one of her pokeballs. "Go Golette!"

"Gol...lia!" The Golette cried after being summoned.

"Use Magnitude to stop the Shadow!" Rebecca commanded.

"Golla!" The Golette slammed its feet to the ground and caused the ground to shake. Upon vibration, the Shadow turned around and stopped in its place.

"What is that thing?" Amy asked. "And what's it waiting for?"

"Hold on, look!" Eric pointed.

The Shadow was slowly forming a figure off the ground, as its form was fully shaped it began revealing its true form. It was a pokemon that appeared large, it was dark, and it had a massive face on its torso.

"Dukscla..." Cried the ghost pokemon.

"A Dusknoir." Eric said. "It must have used Phantom Force on us earlier."

"Why did it attacked us?" Amy demanded, looking at Heather.

"Hold on..." Heather started to listen to the pokemon.

"Duskcla...duskcla..." The pokemon spoke with deep howling tone which made it sound very dreadful, even so Heather managed to translate.

"The Dusknoir," Heather began. "is trying to keep us from reaching the staircase, saying that it's very special to the pokemons here along with the souls of the dead, and that we had no rights as the livings to get our hands on it. Looks like it's protecting the bell above us."

"Is that it?" Ingrid went towards the pokemon to address to it. "Look, we admire your reason to be protective, but we can't get out of here unless we ring that bell hanging on top of us. If you wish to have us leave, then that's fine. But at least let us by ringing that bell."

The pokemon stared at them for a while, it appeared to be considering Ingrid's words for a bit. After a while, the pokemon responded, "noir..."

"What's it saying?" Ingrid asked Heather.

"It says no." Heather translated, much to their dismay.

"Dusk..duskcla..." The pokemon continued.

"If you wish to be worthy of ringing the bell," Heather continued translating it. "then you must prove to me that you are worthy of embracing the dead. Only then shall you be allowed passage towards heaven."

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Dusk..." The pokemon replied slowly.

"By defeating the soul of the dead-" Heather translated for it. "-like myself."

"DUSKNA!" The pokemon cried very loud.

"Well then if it wants us to fight it," Eric took out his pokeball and threw it to summon his Honedge.

"Hone!" Cried the pokemon as it got summoned.

"-we will give it a good fight."

"Dusk...noir..." The pokemon said.

"It says that it will only let two of us challenge it." Heather interpreted the pokemon's recent quote.

"Okay then." Amy took out her pokeball as well. "I'll be happy to-"

"No." Ingrid got in her way. "I will fight it. I understand the concept of undead spirits better than any of you." She took out her pokeball and prepared to throw it. "Murkrow, I choose you!"

As she threw the pokeball in air, the ball manifested a light that took the figure of a Murkrow, which then flew in the air after its summon. "Murkraw!"

The battlefield consisted of a Murkrow and a Honedge aginst the Dusknoir, a battle was about to begin.

"Duskla!" The Dusknoir started by blasting its Night Shade attack at the two pokemon, which they managed to dodge on their own.

"Honedge, use Shadow Ball on it!" Eric commanded.

"Hone!" The Honedge brandished itself after glowing with darkness and shot a ball of shadow at the large pokemon. The Dusknoir took the attack but didn't appear to have taken much damage from it.

"Murkow, use Faint Attack!" Ingrid cried.

"Kraw!" The Murkrow covered itself with darkness and fired a wave of darkness at the pokemon. The move proved to be unavoidable. But the Dusknoir still took less damage. It was the bulkiest thing they've encountered.

"Dusklas.." The Dusknoir hid inside its own shadow and attempted to fight in such gimmick. It was using Phantom Force at them again.

"Great, how can we attack that thing when it's hiding from us like that?" Ingrid wondered.

"The best option here is for us to evade it." Eric thought. "Dodge it!" Eric addressed to his Honedge.

"Hya!" The sword pokemon moved around the area so that the Dusknoir wouldn't hurt it.

Murkrow only needed to fly upward to avoid its attack. After a while, Dusknoir emerged from its shadow to prepare to attack personally.

"Now's our chance!" Ingrid said. "Murkrow, Peck on it!"

"Kraw!" The Murkrow charged itself to dive its beak right towards the Dusknoir. When its attack landed, the Dusknoir didn't seem to feel anything.

"Dusk..." The Dusknoir grabbed the Murkorw and plucked it off its back and slammed it to the ground. It then pinned it and attempted to beat it up with its Shadow Punch.

"Murkrow!" Ingrid cried at her pokemon that was at Dusknoir's mercy.

"Honedge! Metal Claw!" Eric demanded.

"Hone!" The pokemon took out its metallic sash arm and blocked the Dusknoir's attack to protect Ingrid's pokemon.

The Dusknoir then faced the pokemon that got in its way and then send out another Shadow Punch to knock it away. The Honedge flew off after taking the mighty hit and left the Murkrow which was still helpless being pinned on.

"No, not again." Ingrid thought as she watched her pokemon being crushed. At that moment, a revelation appeared in her mind. A brief image of a Clefable appeared before her. Afterwards, she began to drop tears from her eye. She then closed her eye and then opened it, revealing her newfound determination. "Not this time." She said with a serious tone. "Faint Attack!"

"Kraww!" The Murkrow initiated an attack under the Dusknoir's grip and released a shadowy force from itself and then blinded the Dusknoir temporarily; which then took the opportunity to escape from its grasp. Murkrow then flew away at safe distance above the Dusknoir.

"Hit that thing hard with Brave Bird!" Ingrid shouted.

"Murkaw!" The Murkrow was gathering much of energy it could and then glowed. It then charged itself by flying directly towards the Dusknoir with great speeds, and then when it made contact it released a powerful force which knocked the Dusknoir to the ground.

"Dusk..." The Dusknoir stampered from the critical attack it received and looked up to see its attacker to see what it was now doing. It saw that the Murkrow was only remained on airborn, hovering at its place.

"Whoa, that move looked strong," Amy was amazed by the effects of the battle so far. "yet that Dusknoir remains standing."

"Look, it looks like it's about to do something." Rebecca pointed when the Dusknoir got back up.

The phantom pokemon began to mutter something and began creating a strange surroundings filled with digital-patterned lines drawn all over the room.

"What's it doing?" Amy wondered.

"Ah crap." Rebecca said. "This isn't good. I think I know what move it used just now. A shame that Dusknoir just happens to be one of the slowest pokemon in the National Dex Entry."

"What does being slow have anything to do with this?" Amy asked.

The Dusknoir finished creating the digitized room and then began moving. To Ingrid's surprise, the pokemon moved in hyperspeed and then ended up on top of the Murkrow that was hovering over it. It then landed its Shadow Punch on it, slamming the Murkrow to the ground again.

"What the..." Ingrid was astonished. "Why did it become so agile all of the sudden? Murkrow, try to get up!"

"Murkraw!" The Murkrow managed to get up. It then saw that the Dusknoir was about to land its attack on it once more.

"Now dodge that thing!" Ingrid cried.

"Murkrow..." But what was more surprising was that her Murkrow was flying more slower than ever. It's movement became sluggish for some reason.

"What the hell?" Ingrid was puzzled.

She was then shocked to see that the Dusknoir was going to slam on it again; which it did, like it did before.

"Murkraw..." The Murkrow was feeling beaten, unable to move.

"What the hell just happened?" Ingrid demanded.

"It's this room Dusknoir created." Eric suddenly said, approaching her. "Looks like this Dusknoir had the access to Trick Room, a move that defies all laws of agility and time. When this room is active, it reverses stats of speed within pokemons. In this, the agile pokemons becomes slow while slow pokemons became fast. Dusknoir happened to be extremely slow normally, but when Trick Room is in place it manages to defy that disadvantage and become faster. Meaning that your Murkrow, which was normally fast outside of this room, is now a sitting duck."

"What..." Ingrid was speechless. She then saw that the Dusknoir was about to pummel her pokemon. But before it could, Eric's Honedge managed to stop it by blocking its attack with its blade-like body.

"Don't worry," Eric assured. "my Honedge is just as slow as that Dusknoir, its speed should match with it. I'll take it from here." Eric got closer to the battlefield, ready to command his pokemon at will. "Honedge, use Metal Claw."

"Hone!" The sword pokemon swiped the Dusknoir with its metallic sash arm and knocked it back a bit.

"Duskla..." The Dusknoir hid in its shadow to perform its Phantom Force attack again.

"Use Shadow Sneak on it!" Eric said.

"Hone!" The Honedge also hid inside its own shadow and swiftly clashed with Dusknoir's, forcing it to come out of it.

"Now use Shadow Ball!"

"Hone!" The Honedge swung itself and released a ball of shadow which landed on the Dusknoir with great damage.

"Noir..." The Dusknoir got back on the ground again, unable to handle the damage it took so far. The great pokemon began to release it Night Shade move but Eric was quicker.

"Now use Metal Claw on it again!" Eric commanded, to his surprise however the Honedge used a different move.

"Hone!" The Honedge covered its entire body with metallic coating and then charged right towards the Dusknoir, landing a brutal damage on it by piecing through its great body.

"Wow," Rebecca said in amazement. "looks like his Honedge managed to upgrade its Metal Claw to Iron Head. That's intense!"

The Dusknoir stood for a bit and then forced itself to lay down, admitting defeat. "Dusk..."

"The Dusknoir says that it yields." Heather said.

"You did a magnificent job." Eric complimented.

"Hone!" The pokemon cried with joy, before it began shining in bright light. The pokemon started splitting its body into two within the glowing silhouette. After the glow faded, it revealed its new form. The pokemon was now in a pair, with its sash changing from blue to pink. "Doubla..." Moaned the pokemon.

"Truthfully, I'm not that easy to impress." Eric said. "But for once, you have made me proud, Doublade."

"Doubla..." Responded the Doublade.

"Great work Eric." Ingrid said to him. "And thank you for helping me out back there."

"Your welcome." Eric said.

The Dusknoir approached the trainers and then spoke its language.

"It wants us to know that we've proved worthy to walk on the staircase before us." Heather said. "Now we must ring the bell to honor our victory today."

"We should thank you too." Ingrid said. "For giving us the chance to redeem ourselves." Ingrid then vowed to the Dusknoir which it bowed back.

"Duskla..." The Dusknoir continued.

"It says that," Heather continued for it. "as we reach the bell, consort with the watcher at the altar and have the ringer ring the bell for us."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Amy asked. But before the Dusknoir could answer, it vanished within its shadow and its shadow disappeared before them. After it vanished, another pokemon appeared behind them, it was the short pokemon that's been stalking them throughout their exploration within the crypt.

"Mawa!" Cried the pokemon.

"Huh? A Mawile?" Rebecca said after noticing it appearing.

"Mawa Mawa!" The pokemon got in front of them and them turned to speak to them. "Mawa mawa!"

"It's telling us to follow it." Heather said.

"Could this thing be the ringer the Dusknoir was talking about?" Ingrid asked.

"We might figure it out once we reach up there." Eric said. "Let's move."

The rest of them nodded and followed the pokemon up the spiral staircase.

The way to the Bell toll was long, but as they went up the atmosphere became lighter than earlier. They figured that it was because they've been underneath the stony structure below them for so long. As they reached the top, they were on the bell tower. The sky was filled with thick fogs and around the area hovered bunch of Chimechos and some Bronzors.

"Chime~"

"Zor gon!"

Due to the fog, it was hard to tell if it was night or at the midst of sunrise. As they all reached the top floor they have caught the sight of the altar standing ahead of them. And on the top of the altar hung a giant bell hanging on the eaves of the roof above it. What they saw hovering next to the bell appeared to be another bell, except that it looked a lot strange.

"Is that?" Amy said as she gazed at the smaller bell.

To their surprise, the smaller bell turned around. When it did, they learn that it wasn't a bell, rather it was a pokemon taking the shape of the bell.

"Brong..." Cried the pokemon with its deep voice.

"I see." Eric said. "So that's the watcher of the bell, that Bronzong."

"Quite a fitting role, considering it looks like one." Amy commented with a small amusement.

The Mawile that guided them approached the Bronzong, bowing to the Bronzong and then turned to the trainers with a joyful gesture.

"I assume that it wants us to appear before it." Ingrid said.

The five of them went towards the altar and then gave their respective greetings to the Bronzong.

"Brong...zong..." The Bronzong spoke slowly as if it was moaning.

"It says," heather interpreted. "I have heard of your ordeal you all faced beneath. Passing through the dungeon filled with riddles and questionable structures, and of course defeating the gate keeper below. You all have proven yourself to face one final trial. You must now ring this bell and cleanse your spirits, and also cleanse the spirits of the dead. This is now your duty, fulfill it so that you all can face your destiny filled with new hopes."

"And we shall almighty one." Ingrid vowed to it and then had them all approached the bell.

The bell was hung above them, and they saw no ringer underneath the giant bell.

"Um, how can we ring this bell without a ringer?" Amy asked.

Just then, the Mawile approached and cried to them. "Maw maw!"

"It says that it's the ringer." Heather said. "It will allow us to ring the bell with its own loose jaw."

"Okay then." Amy stepped up and stopped. "Um, who gets to ring the big thing?"

"I have a proposal." Eric said. "I have thought about this ever since I've learned that we had to ring the bell and I've thought about it hard. And I think that the one who rings the bell should be Ingrid."

"Huh?" Ingrid was puzzled as everybody else as he said.

"Admittingly," Eric pressed on, "if it wasn't for Ingrid's knowledge of the language on the stone doors, we might even have made it to the bell at all. I think out of all of us, she could have been the only one who was capable of getting through the elaborate labyrinth beneath us alone."

"You were the one who defeated the Dusknoir." Ingrid said.

"It was a trial which you could have passed just as much." Eric noted. "Even if you didn't win, you were the one who achieved much more back there. As a person who most understood the concept of the afterlife, I believe you are worthy, no you are the worthy."

"He's right." Rebecca tapped her shoulder. "You deserve this credit Ingrid, I also think that it's fair that you are the one who ring the bell. So just ring that thing and please the spirits for the brighter future we are going to fortify for the entire region."

Ingrid was lost for words, no one has ever praised her this way before. Even Amy and Heather gave their nod to her as if they agreed. "Thank you all. Alright then, I'll do it." Ingrid went and picked up the Mawile. It then began speaking.

"Maw wa wa!" The Mawile continued on.

"It says," Heather translated it as usual. "in order for the chimes to be effective, you must ring the bell in specific number of times. I forget how many chime is required to clear away the fogs."

"Oh c'mon!" Amy said in disbelief. "We have to solve yet another riddle? How are we supposed to know how many chimes we need?"

"I don't know." Rebecca said. She began searching her bag. "Perhaps the answer is within the riddle chiseled to the stone inscription."

LV CHIMES OF THE BELL SHALL CLEAR THE PATH TOWARDS NEW BEGINNING

"Chimes of Bell shall clear the path to new beginning?" Rebecca read the riddle out loud.

"Chimes!" Eric said. "Plural! Obviously we need to ring the bell more than once."

"You're right!" Rebecca realized. "But how many?"

"The key must be the LV written before chime." Heather pointed.

"Isn't that short for level?" Amy asked. "If so, then how can that tell us how many chimes we need? We need a number for pete's sake!"

Eric read closely to the riddle and then realized something. "LV...it is a number."

"Pardon?" Amy asked.

"LV." Eric said. "You said we needed a number. What if it is a number?"

"What are you saying?" Amy demanded. "It's a letter, not a number!"

"Maybe so." Eric said. "There were no specific forms for the Unowns to take the shapes of numerology, therefore in order to write numbers out of themselves...they used Roman's method."

"Roman numeral!" Rebecca understood where Eric was going with this. "Of course! LV wasn't referring to the word level, it was actually a number written in Roman Numerics!"

"And the Roman numeral for LV is?" Heather asked.

"55." Eric answered. "We must ring the bell fifty five times."

"Alright then." Ingrid took the Mawile and approached slowly to the large bell. She passed by the Bronzong and walked right beneath the sentinel bell that hung before her. The Mawile steadied its loose jaw attached to its head and was prepared to hit the giant bell. Ingrid also got into position. "Here goes nothing."

There she began ringing the bell.

~Gong~

The chime of the bell sounded startling, yet the sound was soothing the atmosphere as it started to simmer down.

~Gong~

Ingrid rang the bell slowly at first, and then as she got the hang of it at the fifth ring, she started to hasten up a bit.

~Gong~

Other trainers behind her only watched her as she made the loud gong. The Chimechos and Bronzors floating around nearby were also staring at the bell, aroused by the chime.

~Gong~

As Ingrid was ringing, she began to remember how she came to be. The life she have forgotten, the life before she was called herself Ingrid..

~Gong~

11 Years Ago

Greta was weeping harshly before her lost friend. Rain was pouring hard on her but she didn't care what went around her, all she had in her mind was that she had just lost a precious friend and that the tragedy could have been avoided if she and her Clefable left a lot sooner. Greta did nothing but mourn, and blaming herself.

~Gong~

Greta's crying never stopped. While letting her tears flow dratistically, time seemed like it had stopped. The raindrops that were falling down had stopped in midair. Greta wondered what was happening. Before she realized, a voice came into her mind.

~Gong~

You have encountered a despair unlike any other, little one.

~Gong~

You have lost something so precious to you and would do anything to get it back don't you?

~Gong~

Yet you blame yourself for what has happened.

~Gong~

You are too quick to be judgmental, nor are you old enough to bring judgement towards circumstantial events.

~Gong~

Tragedies are tragedies, no matter how it is caused.

~Gong~

Mortal infliction can be sullen if you choose to ignore the truth.

~Gong~

And the truth is right before you. It was not you who vanquished your friendship.

~Gong~

Nor was it your friend. Nor was it because either of you lacked enough strength.

~Gong~

No. The one who should be blamed is your mother, the one who forcibly took you away from such precious bonds.

~Gong~

Not just your mother, but the world that was cruel enough to take away your dear father. Such event created the wheels in motion.

~Gong~

If such thing did not occur, then perhaps your friend could still have been alive.

~Gong~

Would you do anything to take back what you want? Would you like to reunite with your friend?

~Gong~

Would you be willing to sell your soul? Is such conviction worth such sacrifice?

~Gong~

Be aware that you won't be able to turn back after this.

~Gong~

Avenge your friend, take revenge on the world...

~Gong~

...make the world perish as it forced your friend to perish...

~Gong~

...and after you subjugate it, make it vow before you.

~Gong~

And make it so that it shall no long be able to make you suffer as you just did.

~Gong~

It is time.

~Gong~

Release your inner anger.

~Gong~

Release the darkness within you.

~Gong~

For your friend.

~Gong~

For your future.

~Gong~

And for yourself.

~Gong~

It is your destiny.

~Gong~

Fear not, you have now been given a new ordeal, and your life will start anew.

~Gong~

Forget your old memory, forget your old life, your family, forget to love.

~Gong~

Let the fury of hell awaken you. You are now, a new identity.

"AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!" Greta suddenly screamed as if she was in great pain, afterwards flames started to emit out of her. Greta behaved irregularly thus-ward.

As she calmed down, the flames vanished off of her. Then a darkness that was surrounding her friend and covered it with a shade. Then a shadow appeared out of it, taking a similar shape of the Clefable. The shadow then glared with its reddish eyes and smiled like a maniac. It was not her Clefable, but rather another pokemon that resembled its shape. After that, the shadow vanished and the darkness before her started to shrink into something much smaller. The shadow form dissipated and revealed a putrid egg. Greta faced the egg and opened her eyes, which then revealed to be no longer blue, it was now purple.

~Gong~

Greta was born anew into someone different. She wasn't even Greta anymore. She took the egg and said, "Greta is dead, along with her friend. I am now Ingrid, and I shall start a new friendship with this new one after it gets born."

After a while, the authority managed to reach her, they took her back to her home where her mother faced her. Slapping her for running away, and then hugging her for coming back safe. She thought she also heard her mom apologizing.

"It is too late," She thought. "I no longer wield the will to be gentle. The damage has already have been done. All I can feel now is remorse, and the change within me shall be permanent."

Ingrid changed since that day. The following years, she dyed her hair black, straightening it in the process, and began learning the secret of dark magic. Her appearance also become that of a supernatural being, but she still looked beautiful regardless. Greta vanished within her from existence as time went long by.

Present Time

~Gong~

After the final chime, everyone stood still, feeling the atmosphere around them as they have all been cleansed within them. There was a whole new ordeal coming before them, and they needed all strength as they could get. Ingrid have felt happier than she could ever have felt. As she put the Mawile down, she looked towards the horizon that had now become visible after the fog cleared out.

Upon the sunrise before her, she has seen the spirit of her long lost friend, the Clefable that was once her friend. The Clefable smiled at her, it was clear that it have been proud of Ingrid ever since she found herself a new life. Clefable showed signs of satisfaction and then vanished into thin air. Ingrid closed her eyes and felt the breeze of the morning air, as the breeze traveled from behind her and her long black hair brushed forward. Ingrid then let out a smile, feeling better than ever.

"There it is." Eric said quietly. "The path which we can redeem ourselves in. We have witnessed a miracle today, no doubt. Let us now walk as new hope dwells within us."

The others nodded and agreed with him. Then Ingrid began to speak her own words without facing them.

"You know," She began with a calming tone. "ever since I made myself a silly pact within the darkness I secretly kept inside my heart, I realized that the girl named Greta ceased to exist in me. The average girl who constantly made mistakes, who had dreams of an ordinary girl to be surrounded by dolls and comfort, and who wished to grow up to be a perpetuate lady was never more. All those things I had to sacrifice in order to make myself forget the great tragedy I've been hiding inside my heart for all these years. I thought that forgetting it could protect me forever." Ingrid faced her comrades and then faced them with a joyful impression, something which none of them have ever expected from such an aloof girl. "But that all changed when I rang that bell. I started to remember it, the day when my friend died right before my eyes. I resented reality because of my loss, but now I see that trying to forgetting the past would only make me more miserable than ever. At first I thought it was a sign, telling me to look back into it to remember who I was and what I was meant to be. How could I have been so blind?" A sadness crossed Ingrid's face.

"Anyone would want to change who they are in order to reshape their image for the brighter future." Eric said in a monotone. "But the future you achieved with a new identity isn't the one you would have wanted. You may be happy at times, but regrets will always daunt you. Even if you try to run towards the edge of the world as far away as you could, you will eventually have to face your true reality one way or the other. You may have made a reckless path, but organizing a change to start anew doesn't exactly mean you have changed who you are officially. We all can't change who we are, whether we are humans or pokemons, our spirits will always be how it was since we were born. Only thing that could change it is death itself. We can pity the dying, but we must never pity the died, we are what we are, remember."

Ingrid closed her thoughts for a while and began calibrating Eric's words. After finding no flaws, she began to understood that he meant them very well. "You are right Eric, quite." Ingrid smiled.

"Brong..." The Bronzong approached her and presented her a small decorative box.

"What is it?" Ingrid asked it.

"A gift for you it says." Heather said.

"For me?" Ingrid took the box and opened it. What she saw inside made her beam in delight. "Oh my goodness, I've been wanting to procure one of these for years!"

"What is it?" Amy asked.

Ingrid turned and showed them the contents of the box. They saw it and were surprised that the box contained three fragments of a dark-colored stones.

"Dusk stones." Eric said. "One of the evolutionary stones that allows some pokemons to evolve with."

"Yes." Ingrid responded. "It is actually my hobby of collecting these stones. I have all varieties except for these dusk stones, and I've been waiting to get my hands on one of these until now." She faced the Bronzong and vowed to it. "Thank you kindly."

"Brong..." The Bronzong replied kindly.

"Now that I have them," Ingrid took out a pokeball and summoned her Murkrow.

"Murkraw!" Cried the Murkrow.

"Hey Murkrow! Catch!" Ingrid threw one of the dusk stones to her pokemon and the Murkrow responded by catching the stone.

Upon contact, the pokemon started glowing, and then its shape began to change into its greater form. After the light faded, the pokemon's new form was revealed before their eyes.

"Honchkraw!" Cried the Honchkrow. The pokemon landed in front of Ingrid and she gave it a nice pat on the head.

"I owed you a credit for today. Consider the price well paid." She said to it.

"Ah!" Amy stretched upward in joy. "Now that we got all that out of the way, how about we start continuing our adventure?"

"Yes, let us start our journey anew." Ingrid replied happily.

"Maw!" The Mawile suddenly began by attempting to jump off the tower. "Maw maw maw!"

"What's it saying?" Amy asked.

"It says," Heather started. "now that my role is fulfilled, I can finally set myself towards the world before me. Thank you for allowing me ring that bell which I've been waiting to do all my life. Now I wish to leave, hoping to start my own new path. I hope we will see each other once more, farewell."

The Mawile finished its speech and jumped off the tower.

"Do you think that it will find what it's looking for?" Eric asked.

"I'm sure it will." Replied Ingrid as she faced the sky before them. "In fact, I hope it does."

The group decided to continue on their own journey, they were finally able to leave the building after being trapped in it for so long. They left the place towards the Kasandra town up ahead, without looking back. Ingrid however, looked behind for the last time, wanting to say one thing she always wanted to but never got the chance to.

"Thank you Clefable, for giving me a future."

That was quite a sad chapter I admit. Now I wanted to write a chapter that was filled with elaborate tricks and mind bogglers. Running into puzzles is very common within the pokemon series, so I decided to add some along the way. I also wanted a chance to reveal one of the character's background in this chapter, showing how an ordinary person could change because of a dramatic event that occurred in their past times. Have you noticed a bit of reference I've added within the flashback from a past pokemon game? Tell me if you learned anything via reviews.

Trivia Time:

The best class I played as in Maplestory was the Cleric. The first was a rogue but I messed it up big time so I abandoned it. It's been a while since I've played that game, I heard that the sequel is coming out soon.

I am going to be resting for a long time before I write again, but feel free to contact me if you want. I am always open for any free chatting. See you all next time!